No, not the Chowpatty temple in Mumbai, India that started as a satellite temple of New Vrindaban, but a vegetarian restaurant in Arlington Heights, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. My aunt took me and two of her grandsons there for lunch when I was visiting. This was like a vegetarian dies and went to heaven — the menu, included on their website was 26 pages long, including the South Indian fare you would expect, plus North Indian, Mexican, Mideastern, Italian, American, and Mexican vegetarian dishes.
One of her grandsons was studying India in social studies where the concept of reincarnation had been introduced, so we got a chance to discuss karma over lunch.
Tante Ruth (tante is Norwegian for aunt), had come to the gourd show and picked me up. I knew I didn’t have the stamina to be there all weekend so going to her house was more relaxing for me.
Besides the blood bond, we have another. Her husband left his body from liver cancer the same day I had my transplant. I hadn’t seen her since then so we had a chance to share our stories.
The best part of the trip was two of her grandsons had indoor soccer games so I got a chance to see them play (Soccer sampradaya ki jaya!). I wore my indoor soccer shoes and was ready to sub in if necessary but apparently 58 year olds aren’t allowed to play in youth games, even if that is the level I could be competitive on.
Saturday Tante Ruth went to a benefit for Creg Mortenson, author of “Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time” so I had dinner with my cousin Kirsten. He has started 55 schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan and continues to raise funds for more, a much superior alternative to military intervention in the war against terrorism, IMHO.
An interesting side note is that when he was getting started he used a computer in the then current San Fransisco ISKCON temple to write his first fund raising letter.
It was fun at my cousins because because she has three boys, 9,10, and 12 years old. That is an energy i don’t get to be around much anymore. We talked about all sorts of things, including vegetarianism and karma. Her husband coaches youth soccer so that was an instant bond as I did so for 10 years. She made a vegan dinner with a baked tofu entree anyone would have liked.
Not one but two interesting synchronicities happened while I was there.
The first was that I had recently watched a documentary recommended to me by Bhimasena called “The Real Dirt On Farmer John.” It’s a good movie for anyone trying to understand the dynamics of contemporary farming, but also interesting even as a human interest story. It is about a farmer who started a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA). It turns out my cousin had been a member of the CSA so was familiar with the Farmer John story.
The second was that a neighbor of hers stopped by with a gallon of Maxicrop. He was an old friend of hers she went all through school with. It turns out that Maxicrop is his family’s business. We have been using this in New Vrindaban forever as it is very useful in horticulture. Besides providing micro nutrients, it helps with transplant shock and gives some frost hardiness to tender plants. Any organic gardener would be well advised to have some Maxicrop on hand. It was interesting to put a face to the product.
All in all, it was a very pleasant visit, ended by me taking a train to rejoin Vidya back at the gourd show.
FYI, Madhu found this link to the website of the TV station that interviewed Vidya at the show.
